You think it will change?

Why hello! Nice of you to drop by! Now take a deep, relaxing breath, and unclench your jaw.

This will be easy, I promise!

Welcome, or welcome back if you have been here before! You are listening to English Airs, the podcast that will give you effortless accuracy, and this is Parya, that English teacher based in Tokyo. But hey, you know more about me by now, right? If you have visited my website or listened to any previous episodes, you must know a few things. For example, I love food! And animals, especially cats! And you know that I am studying Japanese. I’ll tell you one more thing: I always drink coffee, never tea. Hold on! Why “I drink coffee!”, but “I am studying Japanese!”?! You know that right now, I’m talking to you, not studying Japanese, so why? If you are not sure, follow me to find out. If you know the answer, listen to this episode to test yourself, or for more practice! And by the way, today I have an exciting proposal for you, so make sure you listen until the end of this episode, but first our main topic!

Before anything, I want to get to know you a little! I’ll ask some questions (easy ones!), and then pause a little, so give me your answers out loud if you can, and if not, in your head. As always, the clue is in the questions! I’m sure you’ll get it right!

Where do you live? Tell me the name of the city and the country.

Where do you work?

What do you do in your free time? That is, if you have any free time!
 

Are you watching a TV series these days, or reading a book? What are you watching, or reading? Is it interesting?
 

What do you usually drink in the morning? Coffee? Tea? Juice? Milk?
 

And I already know that you are learning English, right? Any other languages?
 

Well, it seems you and I have a few things in common! But before chatting about that, let’s compare your morning drink and learning a language. So right now, and also these days, you are studying English, and I hope you are having fun. Tell me one thing, though: are you going to be studying English for the rest of your life?! I don’t think so! Not if you keep working like you are now. Every time you practice, you learn more and enjoy it more, and one day, you can stop studying and just enjoy it. So, it’s not forever, right? It’s not permanent, is it? And what is the opposite of permanent? That’s right: temporary.
 

Now about your morning drink: Is that like learning English? If you are like me, do you drink a bit more coffee every day until one day you don’t need to drink any more?! The answer is no, right? So, what can we say about drinking coffee or tea or juice in the morning? I’ll pause here so that you can think about it a bit.

Ok, if you answered any of these, well done! It’s routine and happens repeatedly. It is generally true. You don’t think it will change, or you don’t plan to change it. I’m sure you said at least one of these, or something similar. Good job, you!

Now, let’s think of how to decide when to say “I do this “and when to say “I am doing this”. What question should we ask ourselves? That’s right: “Do you think it will change?”. Here is an example: How do you go to work? Maybe you have a car and drive to work. But what if your car breaks down and you have to take it to the mechanic? Then you have to take the train, or the bus, don’t you? So, if I ask you how you go to work, how will you answer? Tell me out loud if you can.

Well done again! You say “I’m taking the train to work.” Even if you finish here and don’t say anything else, I understand that this situation is temporary. I understand that normally, you don’t take the train to work.

Why is it important? Well, imagine you are meeting someone for the first time, they ask about your job, and you say “I am working in X company.” What are you telling your listener? Right again! You are telling them that you will be changing jobs soon. Are you? If not, you need to say something else, and I am pretty sure you know what!

Time for you to tell me a few things about yourself! Think of some things in your life that are routine and won’t be changing for now, and add some things that are temporary or progressing, like a project. Go on! I am listening!

 Great job everyone! Wasn’t it easy? If you have a bit of time and feel like it, put your answers in the comment section wherever you follow the news about this podcast. I want to get to know you!

How do we practice this? If you have been following this podcast, you know that we use our trusty phones a lot to help us get a tiny bit of practice every day. Why? Because the best practice is daily practice! So, what to put on the reminder for this one?

Here are a couple of questions, but feel free to use your own. If you want,  you can check your questions with me in the comments section before starting to use them. Here are my suggestions:

“What is happening these days?”

The answer to this question could be something like:  “The weather is getting warmer.” or something more personal, like “I’m preparing for an exam.”

And here are some other questions:

“what is temporary in my life? What is going to change?“

Set a reminder to repeat every day at a time when you know that you will have one or two minutes to answer the questions. When you get the reminder, add some information about what normally happens or when is routine. I will give you an example:

“My favorite season, Autumn, has come and the leaves are changing colors. Normally, I take the train to work, but these days I’m walking. I don’t want to miss out on the lovely weather!”

As always, if you visit my website, English Airs, you’ll find the transcript of this episode. This time Snoopy is there to help you remember a temporary situation, and there is also a puzzle! Take a look there. I will be seeing you on Instagram to ask about your current projects, and ask for recommendations for books and TV series, among other things!

Don’t forget to let me know your opinions and questions in the comments on the website, or wherever you get your podcasts, and as always it would be really nice of you if you could introduce this podcast to anyone who is interested You know that I wish to help as many people as I can, with your help. 

And now, the proposal I promised: You know what is good about group lessons? You hear other people’s answers and stories.

Personally, I really want to hear you use what you have learned, and I want others to hear it, too. So, I thought I would invite you all to share it.

At the end of season one, I will be making a special episode looking at everything we have done. You know how I give you time to make your own examples in each episode? I am inviting you to record one or two responses for each topic and send them to info@englishairs.com. You can choose any topic you want, and you can decide if you want your name in the podcast or not. Also, you can send more than one email. I will use them to make this memorable episode. I will only use the correct answers, but you can check your examples with me in the comment section of the website before recording yourself.

I think it will be a great project for everyone!  Don’t you?

Parya out!